The first in what will likely be a long line of G-Unit solo albums, Lloyd Banks tumbles out of the precision street marketing machine that we've come to know 50 & the Shady/Aftermath crew for lately. Equal parts talent & media hype, Lloyd's album lands somewhere in the middle ground of big label big money hip hop. He isn't a complete product- most of the production here comes from small name guys with a minimal amount of pop gloss; but at the same time he isn't ripping anybody a new asshole or anything. Everybody's been talking about much yawns when it comes to Lloyd's mic technique, but with an entire album of production at this level (skip through and you'll get pulled in on just about every track) he's actually a pretty good foil. On single release, we've already seen the chart success of "On Fire(1)," the street success of "Warrior Pt 1(2)" and Part 2(3), plus the recent release "I'm So Fly(4)." And they got to put out "I Get High(5)" with Snoop & 50 next- it's like the "P.I.M.P." feelgood track of the album. Others to check for include "Aint No Click(6)" with Tony Yayo, "Playboy" and "When The Chips Are Down" with new G member The Game. 14 tracks total.

reviewed by the mgmnt